07/01/2021
Last night we contacted the Scottish Government policy makers to highlight the critical gap the Scottish Events Industry is currently facing when applying for local authority lockdown grants. Events businesses do not currently sit within leisure, hospitality OR retail, which the latest grants are earmarked for, we are falling through the cracks again and this needs fixed - urgently.
Please share so we can be heard ✊
"I would like to bring to your attention some urgent issues brought to us by many of our event industry colleagues over the last 24 hours.
Yesterday’s announcement confirmed new grants to support businesses through the latest restrictions. The support package is worth £4 billion in total across all nations of the UK along with a further £594 million being made available for Local Authorities and the Devolved Administrations to support other businesses not eligible for the grants that might be affected by the restrictions.
The Events Industry has previously missed out on legitimate support and relief mechanisms designed to support businesses, primarily due to the Events Industry not being listed or defined within the existing government Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes. Without classification, the Events Sector is either excluded from support, or mis-defined as either leisure or hospitality, which it is not. This has resulted in many event businesses missing out on support.
To prevent further neglect of the Events Industry and wide-spread loss of skills and businesses during this pandemic, we require the Events Industry to be listed within the Government's Standard Industrial Classification codes to cover the following Event Industry categories as a minimum:
• Event Promoters
• Event Management
• Event Design
• Equipment Supply
• Service Supply
The Events Industry needs to be recognised by the government as a stand-alone industry with specific sector targeted requirements and support. It cannot be assumed to fit within any of the existing classifications.
Please can you clarify as a matter of urgency that the Event Industry and supply chain businesses categorised in the above list will be eligible for this support please?
These are businesses that have been forced to stop or significantly reduce trading. As a result of the recent lock down announcement, many will now need to effectively close or cease trading if they are not included within this round of support.
In addition, any criteria used in order to assess an organisations eligibility and support requirements should be proportionate to the size and needs of the business. For example, the previous methodology of using non-domestic rates criteria was significantly flawed leaving many organisations unable to access funding as they were potentially deemed too big to be an SME organisation.
We look forward to hearing from you,
Kind Regards
Shane Grieve
on behalf of Scotland EPIC"
